MODULE THREE: ELECTRONIC MEDIA Learning outcomes for this module At the end of this module you should be-able to:
Define electronic media
Use a variety of forms of electronic media in the classroom
Prepare a lesson using television and or radio
Electronic media
Popular electronic media provide teachers with excellent resources for improving language skills, such as listening and speaking. Like newspapers and magazines, radio and television also provide a rich resource base for enriching the teaching of content knowledge in different learning areas. Television and radio carry a variety of formats. Many are common to both – such as advertising and news - but the different nature of each medium tends to favour particular formats: • Radio, for instance, is dominated by audio-based formats, such as music, talk shows and news. • Television, however, is dominated by formats that are visually strong, such as drama, news and documentaries.
The range of formats used in popular electronic media
• News and current affairs often appear on both radio and television. These provide an excellent means for teaching history-in-the-making, politics, civics, life-skills, business and economics, and current affairs. • Special interest magazine programmes and documentaries are also common on some radio and television stations. In South Africa, Safm and SABC3 tend to broadcast the most informative and interesting programmes on science and technology, arts and culture, and development and ecological issues. There are also shows that focus on language issues and books. • Talk shows and interviews. While both television and radio flight a large number of talk shows, on the whole radio (in particular Safm) broadcasts the most in-depth interviews. These help learners to gain up-to-date information, sometimes from experts, on issues such as health, science, environment and the economy. Listening to interviews also familiarizes learners with questioning techniques. • Soap operas, dramas and movies. While almost all radio stations used to carry soap operas, only a few stations still do. But a large amount of television broadcast time is dedicated to these formats. Some raise interesting ethical and political issues, and teachers could use short excerpts from these to raise debates in learning areas such as life orientation. • Advertisements. Radio adverts are often extremely inventive since they have to rely totally on words, sounds and music. Many television adverts make use of extremely sophisticated techniques to get viewers to associate products with certain ideas and 'images'. Both qualities make adverts ideal resources for teaching critical thinking and media literacy. • Songs and music. These can be used to develop an understanding of idiom and other modes of language use, They also engage the learner in a way that poems or textbook passages might not, and are often useful in values education. • Weather reports. Climatology is a traditional part of the curriculum, but is often taught in a highly abstract manner. Weather forecasts, particularly those on television that use symbols, can be used to contextualize this content. • Sports commentaries and traffic updates are carried by both radio and television. Although they don't have direct relevance to school curricula, imaginative teachers have used them to activate learner interest in school subjects in interesting ways. In addition to these popular formats, many radio and television stations carry more consciously educational programming. This includes: • Programming linked directly to formal schooling. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), for instance, broadcasts Learning Channel (directed at senior and further education learners) and Schools TV (which provides support for Foundation Phase teachers). Both of these are directly related to the formal school curriculum. Some newspapers, for instance The Sowetan, even carry the print versions of the lessons broadcast. • Programming that is broadly educative and informative. This includes: - SABC education department magazine programmes such as Take 5. These support schooling but do so in an entertaining and informal manner (and are thus sometimes called 'edutainment'). - Edu-dramas, such as Yizo- Yizo and Soul City. These tend to tackle issues of broad public concern, for instance, drug-taking, health, domestic violence, or the culture of schooling, but 'teach' through popular television formats like soap operas. -Various kinds of documentaries and magazine programmes, such as the environmental programme SO /50, or the information technology programme, InTouch. These are not designed for any direct educational use but provide enormously valuable resources that teachers can use in classrooms. Using radio as a learning resource
Radio is essentially an auditory medium: it tells stories through words and sounds. It is not surprising, then, that radio is particularly good for developing language skills such as listening in particular, and speaking. But it also provides resources for supplementing the teaching of content knowledge. Radio programming can be used to teach a wide range of knowledge and skills. Take note of how the teacher is using the radio as a multimedia aid.
Radio: • models appropriate use of language. It demonstrates to learners how language is spoken in different ways in different situations. For instance, while the news reader uses formal language, the person hosting a talk show or phone-in programme will be more relaxed and informal. • provides a means for learners to practise listening and note-taking skills. It offers interesting content and, when recorded, can be controlled by teachers and learners in order to maximize the learning that takes place. • opens up a wide range of options for multi-lingual teaching because it broadcasts in most of South Africa's official languages. • carries hours of music and popular song which can be used productively in the hands of a creative language teacher. In fact, as we show, pop songs offer teaching opportunities for teachers of other learning areas too. • has been called the 'theatre of the mind' because it allows listeners so much freedom in using their own imagination. Radio gives you only sounds and voices from which you are free to imagine different kinds of people and places. In addition to encouraging the use of imagination, radio programmes – news programmes, interviews, documentaries and magazine programmes – contain large amounts of new information that can add to learners' knowledge on a particular topic, for instance science, local environments and economics. This provides teachers with a rich resource for updating and supplementing teaching across the curriculum.
Making the best use of radio
To use radio effectively, teachers must consciously teach learners to listen. Radio requires sustained and active listening abilities, in the same way as reading a book requires mental activity. In addition, teachers must keep an eye on radio listings in order to record useful resources for learning. On the one hand, this is relatively easy. In South Africa most radio stations are news and music stations so the number of stations to monitor is limited. In order to access resources to supplement content knowledge teaching, Safm is probably the best source. However, regional language stations carry school linked educational programming and soap operas, while some community and regional stations run talk shows that sometimes have interesting guests and/or debates on controversial issues. On the other hand, keeping an eye on radio listings is difficult. First, the programming of all stations is seldom listed in one publication. Second, as you will notice in the listing below, details of each programme are never listed. In other words, teachers need to listen with their finger on the record button! Using television as a learning resource Television is essentially a visual medium: it tells its stories in images. As a medium, it 'likes' action and movement rather than words and sounds. It presents complete pictures of people and places. It doesn't ask you to imagine. In this sense, it is a passive medium – it does most of the imaginative work for you. This provides educators with both a warning and an opportunity: • First, we must find ways to ensure that learners view television, videos and films actively. • Second, we must use the power provided by the 'completeness' of the medium - the combination of explanation and visual illustration. Television provides teachers with the means to: • transport learners to foreign lands in travelogues, the news and films – teachers don't need to record entire documentaries; • bring historical events alive through documentaries or historical films; • illustrate abstract and complex biological, geographical and scientific concepts in magazine programmes or documentaries. The combination of moving visual images and sound make television – when used well – a powerful educational medium: it is able to turn abstract concepts and ideasinto concrete, visual ideas. Consider the micro-photography that is able to show theinside workings of the human body, or the shots of our solar system taken fromspacecraft. Images such as these help learners to break down some of their barriersto understanding.
Making the best use of television
First, teachers don't always need to wait for and record full-length documentaries that fit their teaching entirely. Often a short clip of a volcanic eruption or a hurricane recorded from the news will enrich learning. Likewise, a two-minute recording of a television weather report will allow learners to visualize cold fronts and give meaning to synoptic symbols far more quickly than hours of explanation. Second, because television is ephemeral and distracting – the images and words are there, then they are gone, and there are many messages on the screen at any one time – teachers need to find ways of 'slowing down' the action and consolidating the message. This can be done by: • supporting television-based lessons with print-based materials, such as worksheets, textbooks and popular print media; • using television with one of the message channels - sound or image – switched off. (In this section, we provide ideas on how to do this.) Take note of how the teacher was able to use the television appropriately.
Third, television is a passive but powerful medium: it sucks viewers in without requiring much critical engagement. Teachers need to develop critical media literacy in their learners if they are using television as a teaching aid. As with radio, teachers face the challenge of collecting resources from television regularly: this cannot be done the night before you teach! Luckily, television listings are far more detailed than radio listings. In general, though, magazine programmes seldom advertise their content in the listings. So teachers still need to choose potentially useful programming and watch these with a finger on the record button! HOME CLICK HERE
Learning outcomes for this module
At the end of this module you should be-able to:
Electronic media
Popular electronic media provide teachers with excellent resources for improving language skills, such as listening and speaking. Like newspapers and magazines, radio and television also provide a rich resource base for enriching the teaching of content knowledge in different learning areas. Television and radio carry a variety of formats. Many are common to both – such as advertising and news - but the different nature of each medium tends to favour particular formats:
• Radio, for instance, is dominated by audio-based formats, such as music, talk shows and
news.
• Television, however, is dominated by formats that are visually strong, such as drama, news
and documentaries.
The range of formats used in popular electronic media
• News and current affairs often appear on both radio and television. These provide an excellent means for teaching history-in-the-making, politics, civics, life-skills, business and economics, and current affairs.
• Special interest magazine programmes and documentaries are also common on some radio and television stations. In South Africa, Safm and SABC3 tend to broadcast the most informative and interesting programmes on science and technology, arts and culture, and development and ecological issues. There are also shows that focus on language issues and books.
• Talk shows and interviews. While both television and radio flight a large number of talk shows, on the whole radio (in particular Safm) broadcasts the most in-depth interviews. These help learners to gain up-to-date information, sometimes from experts, on issues such as health, science, environment and the economy. Listening to interviews also familiarizes learners with questioning techniques.
• Soap operas, dramas and movies. While almost all radio stations used to carry soap operas, only a few stations still do. But a large amount of television broadcast time is dedicated to these formats. Some raise interesting ethical and political issues, and teachers could use short excerpts from these to raise debates in learning areas such as life orientation.
• Advertisements. Radio adverts are often extremely inventive since they have to rely totally on words, sounds and music. Many television adverts make use of extremely sophisticated techniques to get viewers to associate products with certain ideas and 'images'. Both qualities make adverts ideal resources for teaching critical thinking and media literacy.
• Songs and music. These can be used to develop an understanding of idiom and other modes of language use, They also engage the learner in a way that poems or textbook passages might not, and are often useful in values education.
• Weather reports. Climatology is a traditional part of the curriculum, but is often taught in a highly abstract manner. Weather forecasts, particularly those on television that use symbols, can be used to contextualize this content.
• Sports commentaries and traffic updates are carried by both radio and television.
Although they don't have direct relevance to school curricula, imaginative teachers have used them to activate learner interest in school subjects in interesting ways. In addition to these popular formats, many radio and television stations carry more consciously educational programming. This includes:
• Programming linked directly to formal schooling. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), for instance, broadcasts Learning Channel (directed at senior and further education learners) and Schools TV (which provides support for Foundation Phase teachers). Both of these are directly related to the formal school curriculum. Some newspapers, for instance The Sowetan, even carry the print versions of the lessons broadcast.
• Programming that is broadly educative and informative. This includes: - SABC education department magazine programmes such as Take 5. These support schooling but do so in an entertaining and informal manner (and are thus sometimes called 'edutainment').
- Edu-dramas, such as Yizo- Yizo and Soul City. These tend to tackle issues of broad public concern, for instance, drug-taking, health, domestic violence, or the culture of schooling, but 'teach' through popular television formats like soap operas.
-Various kinds of documentaries and magazine programmes, such as the environmental
programme SO /50, or the information technology programme, InTouch. These are not designed for any direct educational use but provide enormously valuable resources that teachers can use in classrooms.
Using radio as a learning resource
Radio is essentially an auditory medium: it tells stories through words and sounds. It is not surprising, then, that radio is particularly good for developing language skills such as listening in particular, and speaking. But it also provides resources for supplementing the teaching of content knowledge. Radio programming can be used to teach a wide range of knowledge and skills.
Take note of how the teacher is using the radio as a multimedia aid.
Radio:
• models appropriate use of language. It demonstrates to learners how language is spoken in different ways in different situations. For instance, while the news reader uses formal language, the person hosting a talk show or phone-in programme will be more relaxed and informal.
• provides a means for learners to practise listening and note-taking skills. It offers interesting content and, when recorded, can be controlled by teachers and learners in order to maximize the learning that takes place.
• opens up a wide range of options for multi-lingual teaching because it broadcasts in most of South Africa's official languages.
• carries hours of music and popular song which can be used productively in the hands of a creative language teacher. In fact, as we show, pop songs offer teaching opportunities for teachers of other learning areas too.
• has been called the 'theatre of the mind' because it allows listeners so much freedom in using their own imagination. Radio gives you only sounds and voices from which you are free to imagine different kinds of people and places.
In addition to encouraging the use of imagination, radio programmes – news programmes, interviews, documentaries and magazine programmes – contain large amounts of new information that can add to learners' knowledge on a particular topic, for instance science, local environments and economics. This provides teachers with a rich resource for updating and supplementing teaching across the curriculum.
Making the best use of radio
To use radio effectively, teachers must consciously teach learners to listen. Radio requires sustained and active listening abilities, in the same way as reading a book requires mental activity. In addition, teachers must keep an eye on radio listings in order to record useful resources for learning. On the one hand, this is relatively easy. In South Africa most radio stations are news and music stations so the number of stations to monitor is limited. In order to access resources to supplement content knowledge teaching, Safm is probably the best source. However, regional language stations carry school linked educational programming and soap operas, while some community and regional stations run talk shows that sometimes have interesting guests and/or debates on controversial issues.
On the other hand, keeping an eye on radio listings is difficult. First, the programming of all stations is seldom listed in one publication. Second, as you will notice in the listing below, details of each programme are never listed. In other words, teachers need to listen with their finger on the record button!
Using television as a learning resource
Television is essentially a visual medium: it tells its stories in images. As a medium, it 'likes' action and movement rather than words and sounds. It presents complete pictures of people and places. It doesn't ask you to imagine. In this sense, it is a passive medium – it does most of the imaginative work for you. This provides educators with both a warning and an opportunity:
• First, we must find ways to ensure that learners view television, videos and films actively.
• Second, we must use the power provided by the 'completeness' of the medium - the combination of explanation and visual illustration.
Television provides teachers with the means to:
• transport learners to foreign lands in travelogues, the news and films – teachers don't need to record entire documentaries;
• bring historical events alive through documentaries or historical films;
• illustrate abstract and complex biological, geographical and scientific concepts in magazine programmes or documentaries.
The combination of moving visual images and sound make television – when used well – a powerful educational medium: it is able to turn abstract concepts and ideasinto concrete, visual ideas. Consider the micro-photography that is able to show theinside workings of the human body, or the shots of our solar system taken fromspacecraft. Images such as these help learners to break down some of their barriersto understanding.
Making the best use of television
First, teachers don't always need to wait for and record full-length documentaries that fit their teaching entirely. Often a short clip of a volcanic eruption or a hurricane recorded from the news will enrich learning. Likewise, a two-minute recording of a television weather report will allow learners to visualize cold fronts and give meaning to synoptic symbols far more quickly than hours of explanation.
Second, because television is ephemeral and distracting – the images and words are there, then they are gone, and there are many messages on the screen at any one time – teachers need to find ways of 'slowing down' the action and consolidating the message. This can be done by:
• supporting television-based lessons with print-based materials, such as worksheets, textbooks and popular print media;
• using television with one of the message channels - sound or image – switched off. (In this section, we provide ideas on how to do this.)
Take note of how the teacher was able to use the television appropriately.
Third, television is a passive but powerful medium: it sucks viewers in without requiring much critical engagement. Teachers need to develop critical media literacy in their learners if they are using television as a teaching aid. As with radio, teachers face the challenge of collecting resources from television regularly: this cannot be done the night before you teach! Luckily, television listings are far more detailed than radio listings. In general, though, magazine programmes seldom advertise their content in the listings.
So teachers still need to choose potentially useful programming and watch these with a finger on the record button!
HOME CLICK HERE